Vodafone brings NFC payments to Hungary’s Sziget Festival

One of Europe’s premier music festivals has teamed up with Vodafone to provide visitors with contactless payment cards — and some will also get the chance to pay with NFC phones.

The Sziget Festival in Hungary, running this year from August 10 to 15, has been named one of the top five events in Europe by The Independent newspaper and attracts up to 50,000 visitors.

Vodafone Hungary is the main sponsor for the festival and this year is introducing a new and improved Sziget-card, which will allow festival-goers to pay for food, drink and merchandise throughout the site.

Visitors receive their Sziget-card free of charge at the entrance, and they can re-charge it at a number of sites around the festival using cash or credit cards. Money remaining on the card can be redeemed at the end of the festival. Should the card get lost or stolen, registered card-owners can cencel the card, and get back the money that has not yet been spent.

And, as a loyalty reward, Vodafone will also be offering a mobile-phone based Sziget NFC service to some of it customers to test at the festival.

György Beck, president and CEO of Vodafone Hungary said: “We are going to continue the introduction of technological innovations, visitors [will] get to test the next generation service of mobile payments for the first time on the Hungarian market.”